Iraq Press Roundup

A security source from Kirkuk told Shabab Al Iraq newspaper that seven people were killed and 50 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in the center of Kirkuk city Thursday.

Kirkuk's police chief said that the car bomb exploded in the afternoon when a convoy of the traffic police chief, Salar Ahmed, was passing. He was injured, three of his bodyguards killed and 15 vehicles gutted, the paper said.

The police source said the explosion took place in a crowded market where people gathered to buy their needs for the Eid.

In another report, the paper said Ali Al Dabagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, said the Iraqi government opposed any kind of interference from Turkey in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"We realize that the Kurdistan Workers Party harms both sides, yet Iraq is a sovereign country and we won't allow any attacks on any part of the country," Al Dabagh said.

The Kurdish Al Itihad Newspaper said Friday U.S. officials in Iraq verified that 25,000 Iraqi prisoners are being held in U.S. prisons in Iraq.

"The number includes minors and detainees from Egypt and other countries," the report added.

The paper quoted a U.S. official as saying around 2,000 officers were being trained to observe human rights in prisons.

Al Mada newspaper in an editorial discussed issues of sovereignty and the immunity from prosecution of Blackwater USA, Unity Resources Group and other private contractors.

It said, "The political argument between Iraqi government and U.S. administration has ended by continued immunity for Blackwater; a U.S. company that is above all laws."

It said the U.S. rejection of Iraq's demands that the company stop operating in Iraq was "wasn't surprising."

"Unity Resources Group and Blackwater's crimes are ... disastrous. ... The Iraqi government should stop and gain some courage to regain sovereignty and security," the editorial said.